22-year-old prisoner dies in shootout at Bengaluru hospital

Bengaluru: A 22-year-old mentally-ill prisoner succumbed to death late Sunday after he was critically injured in a shootout at a state-run hospital here, police said.

"The under trial, Vishwanath, succumbed to injuries he sustained during the shootout at Nimhans," Additional Police Commissioner C.H. Pratap Reddy told IANS.

In a tweet, Reddy said: "Nimhans prisoner operated upon. Despite the best efforts, he (prisoner) succumbed to the injuries sustained during commando operation."

The shootout took place around 7 p.m. at the state-run National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) where Vishwanath locked himself up in a room after firing about 20 rounds indiscriminately with a .303 rifle he snatched from a guard escorting him from the central jail for a check-up.

Known to be a notorious rowdy, Vishwanath was arrested in July 2012 in Bengaluru on a murder charge and lodged in the central jail on the city's outskirts since then, pending trial.